Red Dagger
by spxrk
Summary: Instead of fighting with Cal in the Bowl of Bones, Mare "chooses" Maven, and becomes his red queen. On the throne, she has more power. She can do more for the reds, her family, the Scarlet Guard. And now she's smarter. And harder to catch. Now she's the wolf in the silver court, taking it down from within, and all the while figuring out if Maven is worth her love.
1. Chapter 1

***Note: the text at the beginning in italic is from the book (somewhat shortened).**

" _In another life, I might be jealous."_

 _Maven's words send shivers down my spine and not in a good way._

 _Cal jumps to his feet quicker than I thought possible and throws himself at the bars making the metal sing. But the bars hold firm and Maven, cunning, disgusting, awful Maven is just out of reach. To my delight, he still flinches away._

" _Save your strength brother," he says, his teeth clicking together with every word. "You will need it soon."_

" _Will it be you in the arena?" Cal snarls through the bars, his hands tight on the iron._

" _We both know I could never beat you with ability, so I beat you with my head."_

 _Cal growls low under his breath. "How could you do this to father? To me? To her?"_

" _Are you really surprised? Poor Mavey, the second prince. The shadow of his brother's flame. A weak thing, a little thing, doomed to stand to the side and kneel."_

 _He shifts, prowling from Cal's cell to stand in front of mine._

" _Betrothed to a girl with eyes for another, for the brother, the prince no one could ever ignore." His words take on a feral edge, heavy with a wild anger. But there is truth in them, a harsh truth I've tried to forget. It makes my skin crawl. "You took everything that should have been mine, Cal. Everything."_

 _Suddenly I'm standing, shaking violently but still standing. He's lied to us for so long. I can't let him lie now._

" _I was never yours, and you were never mine," I snarl. "And not because of him, either. I thought you were perfect, I thought you were strong and brave and good. I thought you were better than him."_

 _Better than Cal. those are words Maven though no one would ever say. He flinches, and for a second I see the boy I used to know._

 _He reaches out a hand, grabbing at me between the bars. He holds me tight, like I'm some kind of lifeline._

" _I can save you."_

" _Your father loved you Maven. You didn't see it, but he did."_

" _A lie."_

" _He loved you, and you killed him!" The words come faster, spilling like blood from a vein. "Your brother loved you, and you made him a murderer. I-I loved you. I trusted you, I needed you. And now I'm going to die for it."_

Again, he flinches, and I see the boy he was. I loved him. I love him. And a part of me wants to save him.

"I am King. You will live if I want you too. Choose me, and you can live. My red queen, my betrothed, my wife, and my lover."

"I-" If I live, I might be able to still aid the rebellion. Keep my family safe. Maybe save Cal. And maybe find the boy I used to know inside Maven. I still can't believe none of it was true. I reach through the bars and grab his hand. "I choose you." I say, my voice shaking. I glance back at Cal, and see the hurt and betrayal in his eyes. I'm leaving him to die alone. I hope he understands.

"Sentinel Samos." Maven says to the shadows. A sentinel appears out of the darkness and opens the bars. Maven grasps my hand firmly and pulls me up out of the cell. He pulls me close and whispers in my ear, "I lied to you earlier. Cal will never choose you. But I will. I choose you everytime, Mare." He smirks at Cal, and sneers "Goodbye big brother." And then, he walks away. And I follow, into the next trap willingly walked into.

Maven blames it on Fredrix Merandus, who was blackmailed by the Scarlet Guard to do their bidding. Fredrix used his ability to make me convince Cal into killing the king. He made me help the rebels, feed them information. Thankfully, none of it was important, none of it a threat to Norta. He tells the world who I am. A red with abilities. He tells the people that his father thought it would be better to hide the fact that I was red, as not to upset and scare people. He says that he believes that the time for lies is over. And that he will be an honest king. He will not hide anything from his people. How ironic. He is a lie. Everything he is is a lie.

But Maven ends the Measures. He even raises conscription age to 20. And he makes me his red queen. Instead of scaring the rebels out of existence, he is giving them less fire to fuel their cause. Giving them fewer reasons to fight. With a red on the throne, the people might be satisfied. They will not see injustice and join the guard. They will shame the guard, for fighting against such _just_ and _fair_ rulers. How wrong they are. We, the reds, are still in chains, just slightly loosened ones.


	2. Chapter 2

Red maids surround me in a whirlwind, doing my hair, my makeup, adjusting my dress and just generally making me look pretty. After all, it's my big day. _My wedding._ I peer at myself in the mirror. I am stunning. But no silver paint covers me today, making me look like _them._ I am red. I am powerful. And I will be queen. My dress is not white, like a customary wedding dress in the stilts if it can be afforded. Neither is it the colors of house titanos, purple and silver. It is red. Long, flowing, and vibrant, and displaying who I am, if it wasn't already obvious.

Even the reds will see this. All of Norta will see my wedding, live, or through video screens, they will witness my marriage with Maven. I don't know how I should feel. Nervous? Exited? Disgusted? Or just terrified. After all, Elara is still watching my every move. And although she can't kill me, she can still make me suffer.

"Mare!" Elara's awful piercing voice cuts through the flurry of activity. Although she tries to hide it, she hates me even more now. It was not part of her evil scheme to have me live. Maven defied her. And just that alone makes me think that he might still be the boy I love.

"Yes, your majesty?" I respond, hoping that if I keep her satisfied she won't go prying into my head.

"You're fiance is waiting." The maids add a final touch of blush, and to Elara's dismay, I thank them each, then follow her out the door.

Maven is nervous. To anyone else maybe, he looks like the king he pretends to be, but I can see the small cracks in his mask. But his eyes sparkle with joy. He is marrying the girl he loves. Although that girl can't decide if she can love him back. When he see's his mother, he stiffens, and turns back into the cold, emotionless, boy-king. He reaches for my hand. And, after a moment of hesitation, I take it.

We walk like that, until we reach the ballroom, where my fate lies. He releases my hand. Most siver marriages are not about love. They are about strength, and power, the things silver's value. They could care less about _love._

Suddenly I'm hyperaware of my surroundings. It's all I can do to put one foot in front of the other. Before, walking in the dress seems easy, but with every step I feel as if I might trip. I feel blood rush to my face with all eyes on me and Maven. A part of me wishes for the silver paint. But Maven's words come back to me. _The time for lies is over._

Somehow, I've made it to the alter. A silver I don't recognise stands there, ready to wed us. I spare a glance at Maven. He shows no emotion. He's better at hiding his heart than me. The silver turns to me first.

"In the eyes of the country of Norta, do you, Mare Barrow, take Maven Calore as your husband?" As the man speaks I study him. He has no features of the other houses. His eyes are _red,_ and his long grey hair is slicked back. His skin has a strange sheen to it. Then, I realized, it's because _he's not silver._ The silver paint they painted me with when I was Mareena made you look like a silver, and if you didn't know what it looked like, you'd never tell. But I know what it looks like.

"I do." I say. The man's red eyes twinkle, as if he knows something I don't.

Then he turns to Maven. "In the eyes of the country of Norta, do you, King Maven Calore, Flame of Norta, take Mare Barrow as your wife?"

"I do." Maven sounds like he's at his funeral, not getting married.

"I proclaim you husband and wife, King and Queen of Norta." Then he looks at Maven. "Your majesty?"

Maven smiles at me, a small, secret smile. Then he kisses me. And his fire fills me, knocks my defences away. I kiss him back. I assume he feels my electricity, like I feel his flame. What must be only ten seconds, feels like and hour. Then he pulls away. To my surprise, Elara stands, raising a glass of champagne, and says, "To the new queen, and my son!" But her smile at me is anything but proud. It takes a lot not to sneer at her.

During the celebrations, I walk through the crowd, talking to random silvers, and searching for the red eyed man. Despite my best efforts, I run into Evangeline.

"Hello _Mare,"_ She says my name like it's something dirty. I guess that's what I am to her. A filthy, lowly red. "You're a red, huh. Well I never liked you, I guess know I know why." She flicks her hair over her shoulder, and smirks. Then she actually smiles at me. "But… you're different than the other red rats. See you around, Mare." She stalks off. Wow though. I think that was the closest thing to a compliment she's ever given me. I'm _different._ Duh.

While I'm mulling over Evangeline's words, I catch a glimpse of grey hair and red eyes in the crowd. Trying my best not bump into any important silvers, I dash over to him.

"Who are you?" I say, sounding anything but polite. But he doesn't seem to care.

"Jon. Pleasure to meet you." He doe snot sound pleased at all though.

"Why are you here?"

"This is starting to seem a bit like an interrogation, isn't it? No matter, I know every question you are going to ask."

"Are you-" I start, but he cuts me off.

"A red? Yes, as a matter of fact I am. And no, you won't find me on your friend's list of people like you, I'm not from around here. But I am like you." What's his ability? Can he read minds? Is that how he knew what question I was going to ask? "Before you ask, no, I can't read your mind. But I can tell the future. Good luck, Mare Barrow. We will meet again soon."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this chapter is so short! I'll make it up to you guys soon, just wanted to update quickly! Thanks so much for reading!**

It's been two weeks since the wedding, and I still havn't seen Jon. Yet. I keep thinking he's just going to jump out of some random corner and tell me that everyone I love will die, and the silvers will continue to lord over the reds forever. And I have no one to talk to in this place, besides Maven, and that's just risky territory. But I have to try. He's the closest thing I have to an ally here, but as every day goes by, it seems like he's less and less of who I thought he was.

I don't know what made me do it. But it's too late, because I've already knocked on the door of Maven's study.

"Mother! Will you ever leave me alone?" He sighs as he opens the door. Then, he sees me. "Oh. You."

A million questions and things to say swirl in my head, but none of them seem right to say. Finally, I think of a somewhat suitable one.

"We need to talk. About Julian's list." I say.

"Mare if you haven't noticed, I'm the king. I have important things to do, like run this country, make sore the high houses don't kill you, and deal with my mother." He snaps.

"Deal with your mother?" I ask, confused.

"Do you really think she'll just let you take away all her power? If I hadn't married you, she'd be queen. She'd be queen and king, ruling norta though me, a puppet on her strings. But with you, I stand a chance. I'm done with being her puppet. And so are you."

"You're going to kill her." I mutter, my voice barely a whisper. Even though she is his mother, I don't disagree.

"Not me." He says. "Us." And then, with a wave of his hand, he dismisses me. "I have things to do." He mutters.

I wish I could read Maven's mind, to see where his loyalties lie. He is a mystery. Not on my side, but not on Elara's either. He has his own agenda.

I'm so lost in my thoughts, I nearly walk right into her majesty, Elara.

"Shouldn't you be attending to your duties, instead of wandering the halls?" She snarls, and hands me a scrap of paper, no doubt containing one of her dreaded schedules. "You have alot to do, move along!" she sneers, then saunters off.

Once she's out of sight, I glance at the paper. But instead of a schedule, it's a note.

 _I'm like you. A freak. A red with abilities. I can change my appearance. I'm with the guard. Farley's alive and well- as is the rebellion. We have retreated back into the shadows a bit, but we will still rise, red as the dawn. Hopefully you can still assist us. Midnight, 2 weeks from now._

\- _A friend_

Is it a lie, a trap? One of Elara's schemes to expose me? I have never heard of the ability to change you appearance, but then again, before me, there was no one who could control electricity. Weather this person is a friend or foe, I still don't want anyone finding out about the note. I zap it with a small charge and dump the ashes in a flower pot.


	4. Chapter 4

My time's up. At midnight tonight, I'll either learn that I have more allies than I think in this place, or find myself back in the bowl of bones, to be executed. Elara will probably do it herself. Will she shatter my mind, torture me with her powers? Or just shoot me through the brain? I have to push the bad thoughts away before self doubt creeps it's way into every crevice of my brain. I have to stay strong for what's ahead. At any moment, Elara could look into my head, and that would be it. I'd be done. _Push the bad thoughts away,_ I tell myself again, and again.

Before I know it, the sun has set. Then it's 10:00. 11:00. 11:30. 11:55. A sharp knock drags my eyes away from the clock, and I cautiously open the door. And come face to face with piercing red eyes. Jon. He motions for me to follow him down the hall. I silently follow, and we make sure to keep to the darkest corridors, where the cameras can't see us. Jon leads me to a small unassuming door, and walks in. I follow. The smell of mildew and rot hit me as I enter the broom closet like room, and I try not to gag. Then I see the other person in here with us. Blue eyes, pale skin, dark hair. This was a trap. But then Maven smiles. A very unmavenlike smile, full of warmth and joy.

"You came." He says. And then he morphs, into a little, gray haired old woman. "I'm sorry dear, did I frighten you? I only meant it as a joke. You can call me granny, by the way."

"I'm just a little startled, that's all." I tell her. "Have you been in the palace all this time? Disguised as someone else?" I ask.

"Just after you married the boy who calls himself king, I came to the Scarlet Guard, and told them of my ability and that I wanted to help. Farley stationed me here, to help you." And then she morphs again, into a young looking red servant, whom I have seen a few times around the palace. "This is who I'll be disguised as. When you want to contact me, just tell the red haired maid you would like oatmeal with strawberries for breakfast, and i'll meet you here at midnight. If she responds that they kitchen is out of strawberries, it's not safe to meet. Now, we're running out of time. Any questions? Make it quick."

I thousand thoughts swirl in my head. But one stands out, something that's been nagging at the back of my mind for a while. Everytime I start to think about it, I push it back down. But if anyone knows the answer it's this newblood lady. "My friend. Kilorn Warren? Is he, you know…" I trail off, afraid that if I speak the words they'll become true.

"He's fine. No need to fret dear. Now we really must be going." She shifts into the red servant and exits the room. I start to follow her, but Jon drags me back.

"Wait." He demands. Curious of what he wants, I wait.

"Mare Molly Barrow. I have been wanting to talk to you. You will face perilous times. No pain, no gain." I fight the urge to laugh for some reason. My life is a peroulis time. I don't see how it could get any worse. "I can't tell you much. But I can tell you this. Trust your instincts, and _never_ give up." His eyes are wide, full of meaning. "Go." He whispers, and gently shoves me out the door. I scurry back to my room, jumping at every shadow. I can't get caught, I can't give a Elara a reason to pry though my mind.


	5. Chapter 5

**I am so so so so so sorry for the really long period of inactivity…. Life happened, I guess! Anyway, enjoy, review, favorite, or just read! Thanks! :D**

Maven. He's always there, in reality or in my mind. I can't trust him, not now, not ever. Even though… part of me wants too. Part of me knows that there is a chance the Scarlet Guard will fail, that I might actually have to life my life, married to him, as _queen._ I don't know what I saw as my future in the stilts, besides dieing in the choke, but this is far from it. And the way Maven looks at me, with his mother's eyes, is on the the line between simple longing and full on obsession. And I won't deny it. I loved him. But I loved Cal too, and for all I know he's dead.

But for all Maven's faults, he's not evil. _He wants to kill his mother._ To help me, to help himself. He wants to help me. Unless- unless this is all just another plot, leaving the Scarlet guard in worse shape than it is already, or just to bring me down. But in this palace of lies and whispers, he might be a powerful ally. My friends in the Guard, with all their newbloods abilities still might not be much help.

John's words nag at the back of my mind. Maybe I am meant to do this alone. But Maybe he's a liar, just like the rest of us.

I'm meeting Maven for dinner. I've already told Granny, and she's going to see if she can be the servant attending us, to have one more set of ears. And also, I hope, help me know where exactly Maven's loyalties lie. To bad we don't have our own Elara, someone who can worm their way into our enemies heads. Maven said to meet him at his office at five. I don't know what he wants, I can find my way to the dining hall well enough by myself.

Red maids circle me, and I feel similar to how I felt on my wedding day, all covered in powers and glosses and silk. My dress is simple though, a knee length combination of red and silver. Fitting, I suppose. One maid tells me Maven had it made just for me. I refrain from rolling my eyes.

One girl escorts me to Maven's office. It's like they can't trust me to get anywhere. Then she winks at me. _Granny._ Of course. Someone might get suspicious if a certain red servant was always hovering around the new red queen. She has to change her look.

Granny leads me down the hallways, and even though I don't know the castle super well, I know this isn't the most direct route.

We're in what looks like a servants quarter. Granny hands something to me and whispers in my ear, "It's a listening device. It will record your conversations. The king will probably want to keep you're meeting private." It's shaped very much like a hair pin, so I slip it in my hair. Then Granny leads me to Maven.

I don't know why I'm nervous. It's not like this is a date… But my palms are sweating, and i'm wondering _what he'll think of me._ Neither of us have anything to prove though. We _are_ already married. But he wants me to love him. I don't know what I want. Will loving him make this any easier?

Granny knocks on the door, and walks away. She's leaving me?! I don't know I can do this by myself.

Maven opens the door. His hair is tousled, and the top button on his shirt is unbuttoned. He looks tired and a little childish. But also, kind of cute. In a way.

"Mare." He says. I can't detect the tone of his voice.

"Maven." I say, trying to sound as professional as possible. I am a queen. And he is a king. He taps his fingers on his leg. _He's nervous too._ He smooths his hair, then smiles. And I want to cry, because it almost looks exactly like Cal's. Almost.

He walks out and shuts the door. Then, before I can do anything, he grabs my hand.

"Shall we?" He asks.

A part of me realizes I could shock him, right here, right now. But then what? Face Elara's wrath? Face the wrath of the whole silver court. If- no, _when_ I kill him, it will be planned out much better than this.


	6. Chapter 6

Maven leads me to a small courtyard garden. There's a single table, lit by candles. Two glasses of wine rest beside plate full of delicious looking food. He's certainly knows how to be romantic. I suddenly feel a twinge of guilt about the listening device. For all I know, there could be a caring Maven somewhere in there. Maybe. We sit, and he still clutches my hand. I have to admit, in this world of silvers and beauty, this garden is the nicest thing I've seen here. It's just more natural than the crystal and gold.

Although it's a warm night, I shiver.

"Cold?" Maven asks.

"I'm fine."

"Listen, Mare-" I feel a wave of annoyance. He's practically been avoiding me for the past few weeks, and now he wants to talk? I should ask him about the list. After all, I am queen. I should have some power.

"Maven, we really need to talk about the Newbloods." I say, making sure to leech the annoyance out of my voice.

"That's not really why we're here…" He mutters, trailing off.

"I've barely said two words to you for weeks. You might be busy running a country, but you've been gazing over the important things. Let me help with the Newbloods. You already do so much." Nothing but a bit of flattery to help things along.

But he waves me off. "We'll talk about this later. You're my wife, Mare. Why can't I just spend sometime with you when I'm not king of Norta?"

I bite my tongue and resisted the urge to shout, _You chose to be king! You killed your father and brother for this, and all you do is complain?_ But arguing with him won't get me what I want.

"Fine." I say. "Later."

We eat in silence for a while. A candle is blown out by the wind, and Maven casually lights it with the flick of his wrist.

"Tell me about your home." Maven says to break the silence.

Instead of spouting a ton of sarcasm that's at the tip of my tongue , I decide to indulge him. "When I was little, I used to tell stories with my brothers. Gisa wasn't born yet. We'd make up tales about how we were silvers, and had abilities. We'd pretend that we'd rescue all the reds, and build ourselves a big palace, with lots of food, mainly deserts. We'd pretend that we were lords and ladies, kings and queens. Strong and powerful, but also kind. We gave out food and lec rations to everyone. Once we got older though, and understood that we'd never be powerful, never be important, we stopped."

Maven looks amused. "What was your ability?" he asks.

I don't know why, but I blush. "I was always a burner. Shade was a telkie, and Bree and Tramy were both strongarms."

Maven grins. "Well, you are a queen now. Funny how fate works."

"Yeah." I wonder how my family is. Are they okay? Worried? Hurt? My face falls, and Maven grips my hand again.

As is he can read my thoughts he says, "Don't worry. They're okay." I don't know why, but I hear the implied, _for now._ Even if it might not be there at all.

"Want to see something?" Even asks.

"Okay."

He extinguishes the candles. The sun has already set, so it's pretty dark. Then, high above us, a small globe of blue fire appears, it doesn't cast much light, so we're still bathed in darkness. The ball splits into two, then four, the eight balls of fire, then more and more, until the sky is dotted with blue specks of light. Almost like stars.

"It's beautiful." I say.

Maven smirks. "I know."

We stand, and he holds my hands. Suddenly I'm reminded of a dancing dark room with another boy.

But when Maven kisses me that all goes away. I remember every encouraging smile, every reassuring squeeze of my hand. And I wonder, how much of that Maven was a lie? Could he really be that different from the Maven kissing me? My head thinks yes, but my stupid, traitorous, heart screams no.

When maven kisses me, the world melts away. It's just the two of us. No reds, no silvers, just me and him. _My whole life could be like this._ I could forget the scarlet guard, my family, and the reds, and live here, happily.

But that could never happen. Even if I wanted to, I could never fit here. Not even if I tried.

I pull away.

"Goodnight, Maven." I say, and don't look back.


	7. Chapter 7

John contacted me today. He's found his place in Maven's court, as a royal adviser. Apparently you're pretty valuable if you can see far into the future, much farther than the Eagrie eyes at least. To say that guy give me the creeps is an understatement.

I haven't pestered Maven about the list since last week. I haven't even talked to him since last week. I can't bring myself to do it. John tells me eventually things will work themselves out, with exactly that much detail. So basically, I'm seventy percent sure I won't die.

I go down to the training room. Technically, I'm supposed to be like, all powerful, and whatever, but I was thrown into this whole "ability" thing a little unorthodox, to say the least. I have a long way to go before I can even be half as powerful as Maven or Elara.

I hurl bolt after bolt at the dummies lining the wall, frying them one after the other. Soon, I'm standing in a circle of charred figures, painting, but feeling more powerful than ever. I hear someone come in, and I don't hesitate, sending a ball of electricity their way.

"Mare." Maven's voice echos in the large room, cold, and disconnected.

"Sorry." I squeak. Killing the king of Norta is a pretty bad way of getting people to like me.

Maven brushes it off like I didn't almost kill him. "That all you got?" He asks, a playful tone in is voice. He turns to someone behind him I can't quite see. "Sentinel Provos?"

The pieces of the training room shift, until the form a small arena around me and Maven. It's hard not to remember the time when evangeline almost spilt my blood here for all to see.

"Let's see what you've learned." Maven says.

"Let's see some silver blood." I mutter.

Apparently maven heard me. "Fiesty Little Lightning Girl." He jokes.

"Don't call me that." I sneer, the hurl a bolt of lightning at him. He sidesteps it easily, and crashes into the wall, leaving a black mark.

"That all you got?" Maven waves his arm, and a wall of fire encircles me.

I form a shield around myself, much like the one covering the queen's trial arena, the one I fell on. I've never really tried this before. I charge through the wall of fire, none of it getting through my shield and burning me. Surprised I didn't get burned alive, I weaken my shield for a moment, and a fireball whizzes past my head, singing a few hairs. We trade blows of lightning and fire, until he has me pinned against the wall, bombarding me with giant balls of fire. I struggle to keep my shield up, as well as try to push him back with attacks of my own.

"Yield?" Maven asks.

"No." I wince. My sleeve is on fire. Without thinking, I charge him, and take him to the ground. Now we're fighting my way, hand to hand. And from all my practice beating up Kilorn, I'm pretty good at this.

I have Maven pinned, and I repeatedly punch him in the face, until silver blood drips from his nose. "Yield?" I ask, grinning, starting to stand up.

"Never." He manages to smile before filling the box with smoke, and I start to black out from lack of oxygen.

"Yield." I groan, and the smoke clears. The arena disassembles around us, and a healer comes to tend to our wounds. Mostly Maven's.

But I can't even celebrate that small victory, Because Elara stands in the doorway, glaring at me.

"Maven." She says, he voice cold. "What are you doing? You're a king. We can get Miss Barrow a trainer, seeing she clearly needs it." Blood rushes to my face. "But you shouldn't waste your time beating up reds."

"She's no common red, mother." Maven says, clearly annoyed. "She's queen of Norta, and who better to help her, than her husband, the king? At that I blush again. "Come on Mare, we're going to my quarters." Now, even my ears are a deep scarlet.

Even though we're married, Maven and I don't share a bed. We don't even share a room. So when I enter his quarters I don't know what to think.

His room looks alot like mine, just bigger and more masculine looking. But I don't have much time to observe it, because as soon as he closes the door, Maven pushes me up against the wall and kisses me hard. Without even thinking, I kiss back. His hands are on my hips, and mine are running through his hair. I've never felt this way with Cal. Never felt the raw energy me and Maven have. But then it hits me how wrong this is. The Scarlet Guard needs me. And I can't help them if I'm in love with the boy they want to kill.

I pull away. "Maven."

"Shhh. He says, putting his finger to my lips. Then he starts to kiss me again.

I turn my head. "Maven!"

"Is this about my mother?" He asks. "Because I'm dealing with her."

"No."

"Then why push me away, Mare?"

"I- I.." I sputter.

He takes a step back. "Is this about Cal?" He asks, angry now.

"What! No I- I choose you!"

"Then what's wrong?"

"I don't know if I'm ready for this… Maven, I may love you, but you did an awful thing."

"I saved you, didn't I?" He says as if it justifies every wrong he's ever committed.

"Is that even matter when thousands of reds die every day, because you betrayed the Scarlet Guard?" This could have been fixed months ago, Maven."

"The Scarlet Guard were a threat to my country. And you know Cal wouldn't have ever chosen you anyway. I have a plan, okay?" He says, brushing me off.  
"Fine. What is your plan, exactly? Start another war? Send even more reds to die? Lower the conscription age to 13?"

"If I simply just declared reds equal, the high houses would rebel. We would be killed, and we'd be back to square one. Okay? I'm trying, Mare. Can't you see I'm trying? I'm doing this for you."

I see the hurt, the pain in his face. And my traitorous, traitorous, head over heels in love heart believes him. If he declared reds equal, it's very likely that he'd be assassinated. Every silver would be out to get him. He wouldn't last a week.

I hang my head. "I'm sorry." I say. I'm still mad. But there's nothing Maven can do to help the reds. Only the Scarlet Guard can do that now.


	8. Chapter 8

For the second time, I walk out on Maven. I need to find Granny. I need some sort of mission, something besides just being here, and being me. I need something to keep my mind off Maven.

I find her in the kitchens, washing some plates. I've changed into some servants clothes I found in the laundry, and tousled up my hair a bit. At a glance, I look just like the old Mare Barrow, the palace servant.

Granny looks at me for a moment, then looks around. Satisfied that there's no one who could hear our conversation, she says "What do you want? You don't have long, so spit it out, dear."

"Give me something to do." I say. "Something to help the cause."

"You're doing fine how you are. Just continue to warm up to king Maven. Make him trust you. Then we can start changing things. Revolutions take time, not haste. Now go, people are looking at us."

I stare at her for a moment, not wanting to believe her words. I wanted a reason to drive a wedge between me an Maven, something to stop this thing between us from growing. But she's simply giving me another reason to get closer to him.

While I walk back to my room, I try to think of reasons to hate him.

He killed Cal.

But is that reason really valid? When I needed him most, he turned his back on me. Cal was a silver. And a silver who didn't want change, even at a small price.

Maven's a liar. A trickster. How do I even know that the Maven from the past few months is the real Maven? How do I know who the real Maven is?

That's a good reason. I can't trust him. I don't know if I ever will be able to.

I'm so absorbed in my thoughts, that I don't see Elara until I walk into her. Hoping she didn't recognise me, I keep my head down, and keep walking.

"Come back here, red!" She snarls. At least she doesn't know who I am yet.

I turn, but don't walk back to her. "Sorry, your Majesty."

She barely acknowledges me, and simply says, "Scuttle along now, the king is having an important dinner tonight." Then she strides away.

A dinner? Why?

I nearly run back to my room, and find a note lying on my bed, along with a box.

The note reads:

 _It is the Queen's responsibility to greet guests, so I expect you to be ready when they arrive. Wear this dress. Arrive in the ballroom at 1600 precisely._

 _Elara Merandus_

I groan, crumple up the note and toss it aside. In the box is a red ball gown. Great. Dancing.

The last ball I was at… I shove down the memories. Now is not the time. It's only 20 minutes to 16:00, so I need to hurry if I don't want to be killed by Elara meradudus. She hates it when I'm late, weather if it's for one of her stupid luncheons or a council meeting.

As I get my dress on, which is harder than it sounds because of all the stupid frilly mess, I wonder who the guests are. Possibly someone important from one of the high house? Or maybe some person from piedmont? A maid comes in to put makeup on me, but I send her away. I don't want to be the pretty, helpless queen, that everyone thinks got her position clearly for her looks. If Elara didn't specifically say I needed this dress then I would…

Wait.

I might as well wear what I want. I am the queen, afterall. Who cares what Elara thinks.

When I enter the ballroom, everyone stares at me. Maven, Elara, even the red servants. My dress is black and purple and shimmers as I walk, bouncing off beams of light in every direction. Elara scowls at me, but Maven just looks at me in awe.

Let them stare.

"Our guests are arriving any moment. You must be respectful." Elara snarls, the walks out. I guess she wasn't invited to this party. I barely manage to keep the smirk of my face.

But when the royal guest walks in, I'm the one staring.

Not because of the person's stunning clothes, although they are quite stunning, but because it's someone I didn't think I'd see in a long time. And definitely not here.

She holds herself with such grace, you'd think she was a silver. I'm don't know what game her and Maven are playing, but I hope she knows what she's getting herself into. Maven _is_ involved in this, there's no other way Farley would just be able to stroll in here like some silver noble.


	9. Chapter 9

**So I'm gonna try something new…**

Farley POV

I honestly don't know what I'm doing here. When Maven sent me that letter, well, I didn't know what to think. All the higher ups in the Guard said it was too dangerous to come here, and that they wouldn't give me any men. But I got some people to come with me. We hijacked a flying machine, one of the techies says it's called a "plane", and flew it here. I had know idea Mare's fisherman friend was such a good pilot.

When I enter the ballroom, Barrow stares at me. I guess Maven didn't tell her about me coming.

"Long time no see, huh, Lightning Girl?" I laugh, but she scowls.

"Don't call me that."

I laugh again. "Don't worry, I think it was a complement."

Barrow runs towards me, and for a second, I think she might electrocute me or something. But she embraces me in an awkward hug. "Interesting display of affection," I say.

"I'm glad you're not dead." she whispers in my ear. "But what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Finding out if your prince is worth saving." She mutters. "If that doesn't work out, we'll just kill both of them."

Barrow steps back, and frowns at me. Then she realizes that we're not the only ones here, and glances back at Maven. He shrugs. The King of Norta _shrugs._

"Right now, we all want the same thing." Maven says.

Mare looks at him, confused. That girl needs to work on keeping her thoughts off her face.

"My mother, dead." he continues, as if that's a reasonable explanation. Even though he explained it in the letter, his ruthlessness shocks me. To be able to kill your mother, father, and brother requires a messed up childhood, a lot of guts, and more than your fair share of insanity. I'm starting to think coming here was a mistake. But I'm here, so I should try to make this work.

"Yes." I say.

Maven turns to Barrow. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this. I didn't want my mother to find out if she looked in your mind. She leaves me alone, most of the time." Then he turns to me. "I understand currently you have 5 reds, dressed as servants ready to do what they need to do?"

I nod.

"Good." Maven says curtly. "Mare, take Farley to her room. My mother is under the impression that there will be a diplomatic meeting tomorrow, with the representative from the Republic of Montfort." He gestured to me. "That's Farley." he adds for Barrow's benefit.

Mare POV

 _They're crazy_ , I think, as I lead Farley to her room. We're all going to get ourselves killed. No, Farley's going to get herself killed. What was she thinking, coming here, to her enemies homebase. I know I'm here, and that was risky enough. But Farley too?

But there's nothing I can do about it now. She's here, and she brought others too. I hope Kilorn didn't volunteer to come, but knowing him, I'm sure he did.

When we get to farley's room, I check for cameras. None. Good.

We walk in, and as soon as I shut the door, I turn to Farley. "That was a stupid idea, coming here? Why? Why? Why?"

"We need to dispose of Elara. Maven, we can take out easily, but his mother is much harder to deal with. Maven sent me a letter, about two weeks ago, explaining that we should work together. That he betrayed us because his mother was on his tail. I don't know if that was true, but I do know, right now, we both want the same thing. Command didn't want me to come. I went against orders to come here. Do you really think I would do that If I though this mission would fail? If I thought the risks were too high? There are always risks we have to take. And sometimes, they're worth it."

I sigh. "I hope you're right."

"The plan is simple really," she continues. "Our reds, along with the information we have from Maven, will be able to assassinate Elara. Jst slip something into her drink…"

"You do realize that this might all just be another hoax, and Maven will broadcast this all over the country, about how the scarlet Guard tried to poison the former queen of Norta? Farley, why didn't you think this through?"

"I have, Barrow. The potential victory outweighs the risks." She says.

"I hope you're right," I say as I walk out, closing the door behind me.


End file.
